*****Call for the demonstration „Push Back Frontex! Against a new dimension of left-­‐to-­‐die-­‐policy at sea“ 25th of February at 08:30 am in front of BCC/Alexanderplatz

Klaus Rösler, director of Operations Division of Frontex, will speak at the International Police Congress on the 25th of February in Berlin about European border controll and the challenge Mediterranean Sea. We see this as an occasion to fight against the aggressive and inhuman policy which Frontex in the name of the European Union imposes on migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.

After the termination of the Italian navy operation Mare Nostrum which rescued the lives of more than 120.000 people, and at the beginning of the Frontex operation Triton, Klaus Rösler called upon the Italian Ministry of Interior, the navy and the coastguards to stop the current practice of rescuing boat-­‐people in distress at sea. He has unambiguously appealed from a top position of the EU border agency to let many refugees and migrants die in situations of distress at sea. Since it’s foundation 10 years ago, Frontex stands for an aggressive politics of deterrence. In the current crisis in the central Mediterranean Sea, Frontex wants to enforce that the 25 vessels and 9 airplanes of operation Triton would be employed only within the 30-­‐mile-­‐zone off the Italian coast. The explicit aim of Triton is the reduction of arrivals at European coasts and the deterrence of boat-­‐refugees.

Moreover, it is sheer mockery that Frontex, in January 2015, accused people smugglers of a “new dimension of cruelty” when several crews of so-­‐called ‘ghost ships’ abandoned the vessels to avert criminalisation. Without doubt, there are unscrupulous profiteers of the lucrative trade of escape via the Mediterranean Sea. However, it is clear that the business with illegalised entry and the thousandfold death at sea are products of the EU border regime. Both could become history by tomorrow if refugees and migrants were able to simply buy ferry-­‐ and plane-­‐tickets and travel as safely and cheaply as tourists. As long as the freedom of movement for all is not a reality, deaths at sea can only be prevented if all people in distress are rapidly rescued everywhere, also off the coast of Libya! We demand the immediate withdrawal of the murderous Frontex order. We aim for an Euro-­‐Mediterranean space that is not characterised by a deadly border regime but by solidarity and the right for protection and freedom of movement.

The situation necessitates a determined response of civil societies and all social movements:Let us stop these inhumane policies, let us defend the rights of refugees and migrants!

Get more information here: http://afrique-­‐europe-­‐interact.net/

The demonstration in Berlin is part of the „Push back Frontex“-­‐ campaign initiated by
the following networks: Netzwerke Afrique-­‐Europe-­‐Interact – borderline-­‐europe –
Welcome to Europe – FFM, Berlin – All Included, Amsterdam –
Flüchtlingsrat Hamburg – Stiftung :do